Not only will children consume healthier fare, they’ll also learn about nutrition and gardening.
Schools in California’s Sausalito Marin County District will be the first in the nation to serve their students 100% organic meals, sustainably sourced and free of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
As EcoWatch reports, more than 500 students at Bayside MLK Jr. Academy (Marin City) and Willow Creek Academy (Sausalito) in Marin County, California, will eat nutritious, sustainably grown meals year-round. Thanks to a partnership with The Conscious Kitchen, a project of the environmental education nonprofit Turning Green, this initiative has been made possible.
The pilot program was launched in August 2013 in August 2013 together with Cavallo Point Lodge, the Sausalito Marin City School District, Whole Foods Market and Good Earth Natural Foods. In the beginning, the program only served 156 students at the Bayside MLK Jr. But within two years, attendance increased, and a steep decrease in disciplinary cases was recorded. Now, The Conscious Kitchen is expanding to serve Willow Creek Academy, the other school in the school district.
Students everywhere are vulnerable to pesticide residues and unsafe 
environmental toxins,” Turning Green founder Judi Shils said on Tuesday. “Not only does this program far exceed USDA nutritional standards, but it ties the health of our children to the health of our planet. It’s the first program to say that fundamentally, you cannot have one without the other.”
According to the organization, meals will be accompanied by nutrition and gardening education. In addition, the program will also address the controversial issue of GMOs in school food. While the long-term effects posed by genetically modified crops is still unknown, there is a growing amount of evidence linking them to a number of health risks and environmental damage. “An estimated 80 percent of items on most supermarket shelves contain GMOs, and they are ubiquitous in school food programs,” reports EcoWatch.
Which is why offering nutritious, wholesome, and organic fare to kids is one of the best steps adults can take today to ensure young kids have a vibrant future.
The fact that this program teaches kids to become more aware of their food and where it comes from is an incredibly positive development. Says Liza Siegler, the organization’s head of partnerships and engagement:
Schools that incorporate an integrated approach to edible education—combining local, seasonal food procurement strategies with hands-on lessons taught in the classroom, kitchen, and garden—are far more likely to sustain healthy school meal initiatives.
With obesity-related crises on the rise, this program will not only empower young kids to “be the change,” but potentially save lives by teaching them to employ food as their first form of medicine.
“Most people don’t realize that GMOs are everywhere, especially in processed foods,” says Justin Everett, the consulting chef for The Conscious Kitchen. “By embracing fresh, local, organic, non-GMO food, this program successfully disrupts the cycle of unhealthy, pre-packaged, heat and serve meals that dominate school kitchens.”
Who can disagree with that?
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This is not the first time a school has done this or that they have shown a drop in discipline problems. I believe there was a school in Wisconsin that did this. The question is how did they get the funding & break thru the red tape? Good job folks. I hope everything is being documented for evidence against GMOs and they get much more publicity.
Perhaps, if the school district invested this money in science education, they would not be wasting it on silly things. If scientific evidence was available to support that organic or non-GMO food was healthier, then it would not be illegal to make such claims on the food labels (false food labeling is prohibited by the FDA).
What kind of evidence do you need? For starters, there’s the multitude of data which shows the dangers of being exposed to and consuming pesticides. Organic means no pesticides. The evidence that organic foods is better is that it’s devoid of poison. What is GMO? GMO is pesticide engineered into the plant. So there we go again with the evidence we already have of pesticides and their hazards. This isn’t rocket science.
Nutritionally speaking, one food is only better than the other if it was grown in soil which was richer in minerals. Organic or non-organic has nothing to do with that.
FDA doing something illegal? This is government we’re talking about here. They make the illegal legal. Do you think they care about “legal” and “evidence”? They are gods and do as they please. Best for the school to just operate as mavericks and operate on their own.
They next thing to do is launch any Common Core education out the window.
“What kind of evidence do you need?” – The kind of evidence that convinces the expert scientists at all the government regulatory bodies around the world that have approved these technologies as very very low risk. “Organic means no pesticides.” – No it does not. Organic farmers use lots of pesticides. They are simply restricted to using pesticides that are perceived as “natural”, like rotenone. Look up the toxicological profile of that organic insecticide. A recent Pew survey found that 88% of scientists belonging to the American Association for the Advancement of Science say that GMOs are safe. Public perception does not count as scientific evidence.
What’s in this argument for you? Seems like you’ve been at this for a few years now:
http://ecowatch.com/2014/03/06/nyu-gmos-destroy-planet/
Why is this topic a magnet for you?
I tend to post on subjects that I know something about. Is that strange to you?
Not at all. What I do find strange is that when people disregard articles citing links to independent sources they stonewall it in their minds at all costs. Just an observation. No need to get defensive.
I put more faith in scientific articles published in scientific journals than I do in opinion pieces posted on activist web sites. Is that strange to you?
“articles citing links to independent source…”
Does that sound unclear to you?
Exactly what harm does that “independent source” document?
I don’t understand your grammar.
Ask an older friend, classmate, teacher, or one of your parents for help.
Personal insults now. Pretty telling. So if anyone does a search on the terms: “Rod Herman” disqus, the results are exclusively regarding GMOs. Its always a red flag when someone appears to have a single interest online.
I don’t know what to say when you cannot understand a simple question. I suggested you ask someone with a better grasp of the English language.
You should probably try to use different handles when spreading misinformation. You might be taken more seriously.
I am an older friend to good people, a classmate, and a teacher. I am a parent. …. and I would tell most people to not trust your comments.
You used the word “faith”. Faith implies blind obedience based not upon scientific fact.
LOL are you sane, the amount of fraud and corruption in those so called journals should leave you much in doubt to who funded the research and who running the journals to who is getting bribed.
Sounds like you are posting on subjects you think you know something about.
Good reply!
The evidences is out there and it’s been documented? Where? While chatting here with you in this forum, I’m not going to bother digging up all the research. If you want it, you’ll find it.
“A recent Pew survey found that 88% of scientists belonging to the
American Association for the Advancement of Science say that GMOs are
safe.”
Well, of course they did. I would too if it was my job to say such things. You know how it works with statistics. “Garbage in, garbage out!” I work in the scientific community where people daily are in the research mode of “find the cure!” These people daily wolf down GMO and don’t even understand the basic carcinogenic nature of pesticides. So much for looking to your average “scientist” to show you the way. They couldn’t research their way out of a wet paper bag.
The same goes for military types. In my exposure while in that business, we come across many who are “proud of their service” from being in Iraq and Afghanistan. All that hinges on the idea of the “official story” of 9-11. You see, their understanding of the world is dependent on B.S. Otherwise, they couldn’t live the lie. You can’t live with yourself after killing people if you knew it was murder. You have to dress it up in idea you were defending freedom. What garbage!
Many scientists believe that vaccines and GMO are safe just as many in the military believe in the official fables. If not, they wouldn’t be able to do their jobs. Realization of the truth would bring down the entire façade.
Thank you for exposing yourself as an anti-vaxer and explaining that the same logic that leads you to reject vaccinations is used by you to reject GMOs.
Use of the words “anti-vaxer” and “reject vaccinations” are emotional attacks intending to categorize an opponent in a negative light. They have nothing to do with logic, the scientific method, or an on-going search for the truth.
Great arguments!
We don’t trust you or other elitists who have historically told us the “Ozone layer will be gone by the year 2000,” or “All the world’s computers will crash in 2000 … Y2K”, or “Iraq has weapons of mass destruction,” or experts assuring us that the following are perfectly safe, DDT, Vioox, & a hundreds of other medications and substances. Only an elitist would comment “Public perception does not count…” We don’t trust FDA, the Pew survey, or the American Association for the Advancement of funding by evil psychopathic corporations. You should DAILY study math, science, logic. You should daily exercise, eat healthy, and make an effort to improve the live of at least one person. You should turn your eyes toward a search for the TRUTH instead of memorizing textbooks and getting dis-information from Controlled Media Sources.
Exactly John. We don’t trust KNOWN LIARS. We especially don’t trust their “science”.
What we do trust, are the results WE get from eating organic non GMO foods.
Great comments!
but if the NWO can’t get kids to take all day figuring out how to add 2 + 2, they might figure out how we’;re all being screwed.
Who do the scientists work for and how much are they paid for the kind of results their employer wants?
Go watch the Russel Crowe movie -The Insider. True story of the Tobacco Industry and one of their research scientists.
Rod still thinks the world is run by honest people.
People like you who use words like “Science” and “Scientific education” almost always also use emotional and unscientifically based words like “wasting” & “silly things”. You used to be billions in number. Now you are millions. Eventually you will be thousands, hundreds, then no more. We have been deceived by you and yours too many times before. Now we no longer believe you, no matter what you say. You have proven yourself
un-trustworthy. Scientific living involves observing the outcomes of actions. We have consumed organic, natural, and non-GMO foods and the outcomes are greater health, happiness, and expanded awareness. “Judge a tree by the fruit it bears.”
Do please continue on for you and your family have much to be admired. I don’t have the courage to put mine up being life long guini pigs for big corps. your families data 20 years from now will be a good comparisons. Thank you
You should not spread this as news!
If things follow the usual route, the FDA will soon show up in black SUV’s, tanks, Swat, pointing AR15’s in your face, yell you to the ground, tear up and confiscate your food and any resource’s, then threaten with prison should you continue without permission before they drive away like thieves they are in the night.
They do it with natural milk farms, organic veggie stands, and anything else natural, non-GMO and healthy!
Monsanto will assault you – be prepared and stand firm. I would not be at all surprised that Monsanto will sue you for defamation or some other silly reason.